fboss

Took delivery of my RS3 this week. I'm surprised there is no automatic stop/start like the S3 US, and RS3 in Europe. Do we know why they removed this feature in the US ?

John P. (TT 225)

Probably because we wouldn't tolerate it on an RS model. I wouldn't mind if they had one that was defeatbale (if selected off, it stays off even when restarted).

keninblaine

I agree! I was so happy to find out mine doesn't have it.

whitby

thank goodness. I hate it

affalterbach

Better question is why it's on the S3?

Timmay

Exactly! Why the hell do we need to suffer with this stupid function?

fboss

Why ? I guess to save some gas during the commute, when the car is stopped a couple of minutes a the red light. Only a few of % saved in some cases but well, better than nothing.
I agree users should have the option to completely disable it in the MMI.
Anyway, it's not there for some reason ...

gamegenie

If it makes you feel better the 2015 and 2016 A3s and S3s don't have that feature either.


With that said, the best feature the entire North America and probably rest of the world outside of Europe didn't get on all models.

Is the Parking Assist and Economy Drive Select Mode.

Wouldn't you love to have that cool automated feature that's popping up on cars everywhere now.

I think to keep the prices low, affordable and possibly avoid NHTSA sanctioning. Park Assist was left off entirely on the A3/S3/RS3s outside of Europe.

Then there's economy mode, which would have been the real gasoline saver. Not sure why this was not included, perhaps they didn't want the gasoline cars to get good mpgs as their diesels.

Either case, more blank buttons on the dash is all it brought.

plat27265

As the old saying goes, 'you don't use it, you lose it'. With that said, I like the challenge of parking the car myself and care less about Park Assist. Practice, regular practice helps keep my driving skills and senses sharp. When drivers start using those cool automated and near autonomous driver assist features, where is the joy in driving then?

However, I do like Economy Mode in Drive Select during those time when crawling through traffic. I also prefer that my S5 was equipped with the defeatable Auto Start/Stop feature. Comes in very handy especially when stuck in a queue at the border crossing.

marttimat

This feature has been mainly introduced to get car makers into the CAFE standard. It allows for better MPG across a model line which thus impacts the auto company as a whole for the standard. Every year the requirement gets a bit tougher.

My guess is that since the RS is a limited run model, they figure they could do without it and not effect total line MPG (not to mention those buyers are not getting the 5 cyl for the MPG). This allows a bit more cost savings to Audi in terms of programming and no need for the switch. I guess every penny counts now-a-days.